AA5: Introduction to Periodic Functions Name: ____________________________

Bicycles and Portland

According to the Portland Bureau of Transportation, 7.2% of commuters go by bike. This is the highest
percentage of bike commuters for a large American city and means that more than 17,000 workers in Portland choose to
bicycle. ​Portland was named a “platinum” bicycle friendly community by the League of American Bicyclists – its highest
rating. Portland was also named the number 1 bike-friendly city by ​Bicycling ​magazine for many years running.
A bicycle tire spinning is an example of a periodic function. An average road bike has a wheel diameter of about
28 inches. Suppose you are biking home and are peddling slowly and ​it takes 1 second for your tire to make one full
rotation​ to meet back at ground level. Let t represent time (in seconds) since a start sticker got attached to the tire when
you were biking home and let h represent the height above the ground (in inches) of the star.

1) Complete the following table below.

t (sec) 0 0.25 0.5 0.75 1 1.25 1.5 1.75 2

h (inches)
2) Fill in the missing t and h values.

3) Generalize the behavior of the value of h. Is there a pattern? Extend your table to ​include four of these
repeated cycles.

4) What would the data above look like on a graph?

5) Use your previous table to create a scatter plot that models the function of the bicycle tire. Connect the
points with a smooth curve and describe the shape of the graph.
 Homework #11 Name: Per:

1) An average road bike has a wheel diameter of about 28 inches.It takes your bicycle tire 360 degree to make one full
rotation to meet back at ground level. A star sticker got attached to the tire. Let​ d represent the angle (in degrees) ​since
the star got attached to the tire ​(moving counterclockwise)​, and let ​h represent the height above the ground (in
inches) of the star shown in the picture below.​ Use the circle diagrams to help you complete the following table below
(​Hint:​ you will need to use trigonometric ratios and/or special right triangles).

d 0 45 90 135 180 225 270 315 360

(degrees)

h (height) 0

2) Notice that the height of the bicycle tire was being measure every 45 degrees in the previous table. This time, the
height of the bicycle tire is going to be measured every 30 degrees. Finish drawing the circle diagram and use the circle
diagram to help you complete the table below ​ (​Hint:​ you will need to use trigonometric ratios and/or special right
triangles).

d (degrees) 0 30 60 90 120 150 180 210 240 270 300 330 360

h (height) 0
3) Make a graph that combines all the data from both tables above to sketch one rotation cycle. Scale
your graph appropriately

4) State the values of :

Maximum-
Minimum-
Midline-
Amplitude-
Period-